Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday that Tiger Woods was blowing off the 2006 Tour Championship in November?

Yes, today’s first round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii, marks the start of the 2007 campaign, heralded as a “new era in golf” thanks to the FedEx Cup system that will crown the tour’s first true season champion.

A quick primer on the FedEx Cup format:

Golfers will accumulate points from the first 33 tournaments, with the top 144 in points qualifying for a four-event playoff that begins in late August and ends with the Tour Championship, which has moved up to Sept. 13-16.

Points will be re-set to start the playoffs (NASCAR fans, think Chase for the Nextel Cup), and the player who finishes with the most points by the end of the four events is handed the FedEx Cup and a $10 million annuity that comes with it.

Tip your visor to tour commissioner Tim Finchem for implementing the radical idea, but will it accomplish the ultimate goal?

Will a season-long points battle discourage players such as Woods and Phil Mickelson from skipping tournaments, which disappoints sponsors and turns off TV viewers?

That’s the big question that only time will answer.

It will be interesting to see whether the game’s biggest stars continue to tailor their schedules around the four majors or whether they get into the spirit of this FedEx Cup thing.

“I don’t think you’ll see a change in how Tiger or Phil prepares,” NBC golf analyst Gary Koch said. “I do think you’ll see a change in their schedules right after the U.S. Open and British Open, where perhaps players will take a little time off to get ready for the last run from August on. You’re asking those guys to play six, seven, eight events in succession, which many of the top players don’t do.”

Time away from the course has long been important to Mickelson, and it’s becoming increasingly important to Woods, whose wife is expecting their first child.

Both have stated their preference for a shorter tour season. Well, they’ve gotten it.

But both players are skipping the Mercedes-Benz Championship, indicating they’ll still pick and choose their tournaments carefully.

Their presence in tour events — on a regular basis — is a big key to whether golf’s “new era” truly takes flight.

PARTNERING UP: Deer Ridge Country Club and Shadow Lakes Golf Club nearly share the same Brentwood address.

Now they share the same owner.

SunCoast Golf Inc., the Irvine-based company that bought Deer Ridge a year ago, recently purchased Shadow Lakes, located just across the street.

The upshot for golfers: They now can purchase an annual membership good for both courses.

“What we’ve tried to do is price it very close to what membership was for (the individual courses),” SunCoast president Kevin Martin said. “We already have dozens of people who have signed up for the new program. They’re right across the road from each other, but they’re very different. They look different, they play differently.”

SunCoast, which also owns San Juan Hills Golf Club in San Juan Capistrano, purchased Shadow Lakes from Brookfield Homes.

Martin said the first order of business will be getting Shadow Lakes in top shape.

“The course conditions have deteriorated,” he said. “The fairways, tees and greens will improve. It needs some TLC, and we’re going to give it a lot of that.”

TOUR’S TOUGHEST: Those who attend the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am next month should pay attention to Poppy Hills Golf Course’s No. 5. The par-4 hole played as the most difficult on the entire PGA Tour in 2006, averaging scores of 0.492 over par.